Why So Serious?
by kou-tora
Summary: They don't notice how he shies away from the shine of a blade. How he hears a certain clown's laugh, every time he sees a knife.


An old prompt I had written for the YJ_Anon_Meme. I had forgotten about it until I was digging around in my hard drive. Whoops! Decided to finish it up. I've lost the link to the original prompt, but it involved Robin having a phobia of knives due to the Joker (Nolan!verse).

Enjoy!

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><p>They don't notice the signs. How could they? He doesn't talk about it, doesn't mention it, or ever let it show. They wouldn't think of it either, considering his arsenal of throwing weapons.<p>

They don't notice how he shies away from the shine of a blade.

The large ones, like swords or daggers, don't bother him. He knows the difference. It's the small ones; thin, long, quick and easily maneuverable in one hand, that he internally fears. Knives and razors. Weapons _He _favored above all else. Weapons designed to hurt.

'_Let's put a smile on that face' _

M'gann is cooking again. Normally Robin wouldn't bother hanging around in the kitchen, always having better things to do, but they're discussing tactics for the next mission, and he can't skip out.

She's cutting up vegetables. Slow and methodically chopping each bit the same size. He can't stop watching. The rest of the team is talking, but he barely hears them. Next to him Wally notices his lack of response and nudges him with his elbow. Robin tries to hid the flinch of surprise, but Wally still looks at him strangely.

He wants to look away, but he can't. He's terrified, but he knows it is better to watch and be afraid, than look away and have it reappear when you least expect it. Even if he knows he's safe, and that M'gann would never hurt him. He just can't trust himself to look away.

'_You look nervous. Is it the scars?' _

They don't notice how Robin unconsciously thumbs the corners of his mouth as he watches. They pass it off as him pondering something, deep in thought. They don't know that he's checking for scars, relieved to feel only smooth skin beneath his finger tips.

Suddenly M'gann, finished with the vegetable she'd been cutting, places the used knife in the sink for washing later. Robin lets out a slow breath of relief, letting the tension in his shoulders drop. He allows himself to look away now, and turns to Wally at his side who had been trying to get his attention.

'_How 'bout a magic trick?' _

He doesn't notice when M'gann casually lifts her hand, and using her telekinesis, pulls a new knife from a drawer on the other side of the kitchen. Behind Robin's field of view. The knife easily slides through the air towards her open hand. Robin doesn't notice until he sees the glint of steel in the corner of his eye as the knife passes by him. He nearly falls off the stool he's perched on. His heart nearly stops too.

'_Ta-daa!'_

"Rob? Where are you going?" Wally calls out to him, but Robin is already making a hasty retreat from the kitchen. He'll make an excuse later.

He shouldn't have looked away.

'_A-hee hee, ha ha, ahahaha!'_

_.  
><em>

The incident in the kitchen goes by unnoticed by the rest of the team. They're used to his quirky behavior, so vanishing out of the kitchen without a word is hardly uncharacteristic of him. Unfortunately it would not be the last time.

Black Canary calls Robin to assist with training Artemis. It's not until he arrives in the training room that he learns that it involves _knives_. Throwing knives to be exact. Artemis casually flips one in the palm of her hand as Dinah explains. Something to do with arming Artemis should her bow ever be broken in combat. Robin doesn't hear any of it, beyond the sound of the knife handle hitting flesh of her palm with each catch.

'_Now I see the funny side. Now I'm always smiling!'_

Artemis smirks while tossing the knife. She suddenly raises her arm and hurls the knife towards the target board. It hits the board with a _thunk_.

It doesn't matter that the board is on the other side of the room, opposite of where Robin stands. Robin still flinches at her unexpected quick throw and the sound of metal slicing through air. Instead of the dull sound of the knife hitting the board, Robin only hears metal imbedding into warm soft flesh.

Both Dinah and Artemis face the target, taking notice how she missed the center by an easy foot, but when they turn back for Robin's opinion - the Boy Wonder is already gone.

He avoids the both of them for the next three days until they forget the incident all together.

.

The others begin to suspect that something may not be right. Robin however was trained by the best in the art of deceit and deception, and he easily plays it off as him having a bad week dealing with Gotham. The best lies, after all, have a grain of truth.

They accept the excuse, and thankfully no one decides to test any theories.

That is until everything comes crashing down.

'_And... here... we... go! '_

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><p>Here's Part 1! The last part will be up sometime soon in the next few days. Just finishing up the last bit and ironing out some details. Reviews, of course, are always welcome!<p>

BTW, did FFnet change their edit/preview formatting program or something? I use to be able to use dashes, hyphens or even asterisks for breaks in the story, but every time I save it, the editor deletes them. It's very annoying!_  
><em>


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